Alfred Molina

Ever since his emergence from the British stage, actor Alfred Molina carved out a prominent career as a chameleon-like character actor who occasionally emerged in leading man roles. After climbing the...
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"It's part of a tradition that goes back to the beginning of film - a never-ending stream of British actors playing villains in Hollywood movies. Those parts are great fun to play and playing the villain put my two kids through university, so I've got no complaints." ALFRED MOLINA has no regrets about playing the bad guy in movies such as SPIDER-MAN 2.

The Hustle &amp; Flow star was unveiled as the latest member of the cast by franchise creator Dick Wolfe on Friday (30Jul10).
Spider-Man villain Molina was cast as tough Deputy District Attorney Morales last week (ends23Jul10), while Skeet Ulrich will lead the police force on the upcoming series, which will launch later this year (10).

SPIDER-MAN 2 and THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE villain ALFRED MOLINA has signed up to play a tough Deputy District Attorney in the new LAW &amp; ORDER: LOS ANGELES cop drama. The Brit will star opposite Skeet Ulrich in the new series, which launches later this year (10).

The mysterious and much-anticipated “Inception” from Warner Bros. tops the weekend box office chart as expected while Universal’s “Despicable Me” crosses the $100 million mark with a strong second weekend.
Christopher Nolan is a film director whose name is synonymous with smart, beautifully crafted films and big box office. Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” which opened exactly two years ago posted the biggest opening weekend of all-time with $158.4 million in its first three days of release; a record that has yet to be broken and the film was also the top grossing film of 2008. With $62.8 million this weekend, “Inception” gives star Leonardo DiCaprio his biggest debut ever, out-grossing the mid-February opening of “Shutter Island” and arguably makes the star the most consistently bankable among his peers. Positive word-of-mouth is making its way around the social networking water-cooler and looks to assure strong on-going interest in the film.
The IMAX screenings of “Inception” accounted for 12% of the weekend gross with an amazing $7 million in 197 locations: the best ever for an IMAX 2D title. The fact that Nolan is a true believer when it comes to the cinematic and creative advantages of the giant screen technology is not at all lost on the audience for this film and they came out in major support of the film in this format.
At number two is Universal’s well-reviewed family animated favorite “Despicable Me” which crossed the $100 million mark in just nine days of release. With the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel and Russell Brand the film was solid performer all week long and earned a strong $32.8 million this weekend against a minimal 42% drop.
Debuting in the third spot is Disney’s “The Sorcerer's Apprentice” starring Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel and Alfred Molina opened last Wednesday with $3.9 million. With $17.6 million for the weekend and $24.7 million since Wednesday, the PG-rated film joins “The Last Airbender” and “The Karate Kid” in the live-action family adventure club that has been so successful this summer.
Number four belongs to the top five mainstay that is Summit Entertainment’s “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.” Another $13.4 million in the blood bank puts it in excess of a quarter of a billion dollars in domestic revenue and further justifies the enormous $25 million paydays that await the three main stars for the next installment.
Of course no summer weekend would be truly satisfying without Disney’s “Toy Story 3” which becomes the highest grossing film of the year and the summer with an amazing $363.0 million total. The Pixar film continues to please audiences across the board as it grabs another $12.0 million and continues its dominance of the summer box office.
The indie world is rockin’ with Fox Searchlight’s “Cyrus” coming in at number 11 with $1.093 million and “The Kids Are All Right” from Focus Features at number 12 with $1.065 million continuing to offer solid alternative programming to the typical summer blockbusters.
Another great weekend vs. last year when Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” blew the doors off the box office. With year-to-date revenues crossing the $6 billion mark and summer revenues holding their own against last year, we now head into the final six weeks of the summer with some much-needed vigor. Next week look for Sony’s action entry starring “Salt” starring Angelina Jolie and Fox’s “Ramona and Beezus” based on the best-selling children’s books to hit theatres.

UPDATE - Let the word-of-mouth begin. With $3 million in midnight screenings Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated “Inception” gets off to a start that is certainly no challenge to any of the midnight records, but hopefully will motivate moviegoers to begin the social network chatter that will either make or break the film. With its incredible visual style, plot convolutions and filmmaking pedigree, “Inception” is the stuff from which advanced film school courses are made. Weekend projections put the mind-blowing film in the $50 plus million range.
It's finally here! One of the most anticipated movies of the summer, if not the year as Warner Bros.' "Inception" prepares to mind-bend movie-goers with its smart, intricate storyline, solid performances and awe-inspiring visuals and special effects. Arguably one of the most accomplished film directors of all-time, Christopher Nolan brings this truly original production to the big screen (and of course his beloved IMAX canvas) after a ten year gestation period during which the super-brainy director developed the story and was likely waiting for special effects technology to catch up with his cinematic vision. Nolan holds the distinction of having directed the film with the biggest opening weekend box office of all-time with "The Dark Knight" which opened almost exactly two years ago to the day with a whopping $158.4 million.
This could potentially give star Leonardo DiCaprio the best debut weekend of his career ahead of this year's first quarter hit "Shutter Island" which gave the star a career high weekend opening of $41.1 million. Ellen Page gives a subtle and smart performance and Joseph Gordon Levitt gets the MVP award for a truly gritty and career re-defining role that has the actor giving a very physical and uncommonly (for him) tough performance. British born Tom Hardy is also a revelation as Eames, a street-wise operative. Of course, DiCaprio gives an amazing performance under the tutelage of yet another brilliant director. Not to be missed, "Inception" is the sort of summer blockbuster that does not insist that you leave your brain at the door; quite the contrary as it actually requires that you put your thinking cap on and go along for a very challenging but very fun and satisfying ride. Notable that Warner Bros. has a maintained a tradition of terrific box office performances on this mid-July date with "Harry Potter 6" last year and the aforementioned "The Dark Knight" in 2008.
As a cool alternative for families who have been giving major support of late to PG-rated action adventures such as "The Karate Kid" and "The Last Airbender," Disney brings Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel ("Tropic Thunder," "She's Out of My League) together in this action film that has Cage sporting magical powers in his role as a master sorcerer and teams him with regular guy Dave (played by Baruchel) as they try to outwit the evil Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina who played the evil Doc Ock in "Spider-Man 2." Pulling a very famous title from the vaults, Disney hopes to continue their winning streak with families in the wake of the massive success of "Toy Story 3" and take their G-rated devotees and bring them back for some live action PG-rated family adventure.
Another strong weekend in store after last weekend's 35% increase over the comparable weekend a year ago and the much bigger-than-expected debut and chart topping mid-week grosses of Universal's "Despicable Me" which has earned nearly $80 million in just six days of release. Summit's "Twilight Saga: Eclipse," Disney's "Toy Story 3" and Sony's "Grown Ups" are also displaying continued strength and should put us again in the revenue sweet spot along with this weekend's newcomers. With about seven weekends remaining in the season, the last third of the summer now holds the key to the ultimate fate of the box office after a somewhat rocky May into mid-June period and subsequent show of strength by "The Karate Kid," "Eclipse," "Toy Story 3," "The Last Airbdender" and "Despicable Me."

Jay Baruchel is Hollywood’s affable geek du jour having plied his unique trade recently in the animated blockbuster How to Train Your Dragon and the considerably less successful rom-com She’s Out of My League. His gangly frame twitchy visage and nasal drone make him perfect for movies in which awkward self-effacing underdogs triumph against enormous odds to achieve great feats like saving a Viking tribe from certain destruction or getting laid by a really really hot blonde chick.
Movies like The Sorcerer’s Apprentice a live-action CGI-fest directed by Jon Turteltaub (the National Treasure films) and inspired by a famous sequence from Fantasia Walt Disney’s groundbreaking collection of animated shorts. Fantasia debuted in 1940 long before Disney subleased its animation work to Pixar and "Fantasia" became more commonly known as a popular name among exotic dancers. My how things have changed.
Baruchel plays Dave a hapless NYU physics nerd unwittingly cast into the middle of a centuries-long good-versus-evil battle between powerful sorcerers who wield an infinite array of supernatural powers. Representing the good guys is Balthazar (Nicolas Cage) a wide-eyed eccentric whose all-black goth-pimp ensemble draws nary a suspicious glance on the eclectic streets of Manhattan. Dave it turns out is no ordinary college student but the Prime Merliner which sounds like an underwater number divisible by only one and itself but in actuality is a sort of wizard messiah destined to rid the world from the likes of the sinister Horvath (Alfred Molina) and his imprisoned overlord Morgana (Alice Krige). That is if he can take time off from his bumbling courtship of a pretty co-ed (Teresa Palmer) to actually learn the tricks of the sorcerer’s trade.
“Disposable” and “formulaic” are terms commonly applied to both of Turteltaub’s National Treasure collaborations with Cage but I submit that those films are at least fun if ultimately forgettable. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is far less fun and far more forgettable its formula followed so perfunctorily that it ultimately comes off as an elaborate exercise in corporate cynicism one unlikely to inspire the string of sequels it so transparently hopes to conjure. Which is a shame because the film shows intermittent signs of promise and Cage despite his distracting perm is oddly charming as a sort of desperate weirdo.

Tony Award-winning Broadway play RED has recouped its $2.25 million (£1.5 million) production costs after just 14 weeks of performances. The show, starring Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne, joins only a handful of other New York stage productions to earn back investors' money this season (09/10) - Denzel Washington's Fences and Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson's A View From the Bridge are also among the big Broadway attractions.

The hit show, starring Brits Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne, picked up five awards at New York's Radio City Music Hall.
Bon Jovi star David Bryan's Memphis was also the toast of Broadway, picking up four awards - including the night's Best Musical honour. Fela! and La Cage aux Folles claimed only three of their 11 nominations each.
Onstage husband and wife Denzel Washington and Viola Davis were big winners, claiming the night's Best Actor and Actress prizes for a Play for Fences, which was also named Best Revival. Scarlett Johansson was a first-time Tony Awards winner for her Broadway debut in A View From The Bridge and Catherine Zeta-Jones was named Best Actress in a Musical.
Green Day's American Idiot was a double winner.
There were also special awards for British playwright Alan Ayckbourn and actors Marian Seldes and David Hyde Pierce.
The show was a true celebration of all things musical and theatrical with highlights including a show-stopping performance by Glee stars Matthew Morrison and Lea Michele, a dramatic rendition of Send in the Clowns by Zeta-Jones and stunning segments from hit musicals Fela! and La Cage aux Folles.
Green Day helped give the big show a rocking start as they performed two songs from their American Idiot musical.
It was couple's night in the audience with Johansson joined by husband Ryan Reynolds, Michael Douglas supporting his wife Zeta-Jones and Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith and Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith turning out.
Even Jay-Z, who had performed at the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee on Saturday (12Jun10), and his wife Beyonce dressed it up for a night at the theatre awards.
Host Sean Hayes was perfect, cracking jokes at the expense of some of his movie star audience members and dressing up as both Annie and Spider-Man for added laughs.
The 2010 Tony Award winners are:
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play - Scarlett Johansson (A View From The Bridge)
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play - Eddie Redmayne (Red)
Best Direction of a Play - Michael Grandage (Red)
Best Direction of a Musical - Terry Johnson (La Cage aux Folles)
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical - Katie Finneran (Promises, Promises)
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical - Levi Kreis (Million Dollar Quartet)
Best Costume Design of a Play - Catherine Zuber (The Royal Family)
Best Costume Design of a Musical - Marina Draghici (Fela!)
Best Lighting Design of a Musical - Kevin Adams (American Idiot)
Best Scenic Design of a Play - Christopher Oram (Red)
Best Scenic Design of a Musical - Christine Jones (American Idiot)
Best Lighting Design of a Play - Adam Cork (Red)
Best Sound Design of a Musical - Robert Kaplowitz (Fela!)
Best Performance by a Leading Lady in a Play - Viola Davis (Fences)
Best Performance by a Leading Man in a Play - Denzel Washington (Fences)
Lifetime Achievement Award - Alan Ayckbourn
Lifetime Achievement Award - Marian Seldes
Isabelle Stephenson Award - David Hyde Pierce
Best Orchestrations - David Bryan &amp; Daryl Waters (Memphis)
Best Original Score - David Bryan &amp; Joe DiPietro (Memphis)
Best Book of a Musical - Joe DiPietro (Memphis)
Best Choreography - Bill T. Jones (Fela!)
Best Revival of a Play - Fences
Best Play - Red
Best Revival of a Musical - La Cage aux Folles
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical - Catherine Zeta-Jones (A Little Night Music)
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical - Douglas Hodge (La Cage aux Folles)
Best Musical - Memphis.

The Hollywood stars have landed nominations in the Outstanding Actor in a Play category - Law for his role in Hamlet, Schreiber for A View from the Bridge, Molina for Red and Walken for A Behanding in Spokane.
They'll go up against Molina's Red co-star Eddie Redmayne and The Emperor Jones star John Douglas Thompson, according to nominations announced in New York on Monday (3May10)
Anne Hathaway will compete with Laura Linney and Kristen Johnson in the Outstanding Actress category, while Scarlett Johansson and Viola Davis will fight it out for the Outstanding Featured Actress prize, after winning nominations for their roles in A View from the Bridge and Fences respectively.
A Little Night Music star Catherine Zeta-Jones leads the nominees in the Outstanding Actress in a Musical category, while Nathan Lane and Douglas Hodge will battle for the Outstanding Actor in a Musical prize, for their roles in The Addams Family and La Cage Aux Folles respectively.
Green Day's newly-released musical American Idiot has earned the band a nod in the Outstanding Musical category, alongside The Addams Family, Memphis, Scottsboro Boys, Yank! and Everyday Rapture, while My Wonderful Day, Circle Mirror Transformation, Happy Now, Red, Next Fall and Clybourne Park will compete for the Outstanding Play award.
The Drama Desk awards will be handed out at a ceremony at New York City's Lincoln Center on 23 May (10), hosted by musical star Patti LuPone.

Summary

Ever since his emergence from the British stage, actor Alfred Molina carved out a prominent career as a chameleon-like character actor who occasionally emerged in leading man roles. After climbing the traditional ladder of British theatrical aspiration, moving from the repertory circuit to the Royal Shakespeare Company, Molina created a stir as The Maniac in "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" (1979). But it was his success on the big screen - starting with a small, but memorable role as a turncoat guide covered in spiders in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) - that spurred Molina to success. From there, his mixed heritage allowed Molina to play just about any nationality in a variety of roles - from a Russian sailor in "Letter to Brezhnev" (1985) to an Iranian in Western clothing in "Not Without My Daughter" (1991) to a Cuban refugee in "The Perez Family" (1995) and a Greek-American lawyer in "Before and After" (1996). Though often tapped to play villains - most notably as Dr. Octopus in the blockbuster sequel "Spider-Man 2" (2004) - he made his greatest impression as the pleasure-seeking artist Diego Rivera in "Frida" (2002), making clear to audiences that there were few roles Molina was not willing or able to play.

Met while starring in the London revival of "Destry Rides Again" in 1982; married in 1985

Rachel Molina

Daughter

Born c. 1980; from a previous relationship

Education

Name

Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Notes

"I left in some disgrace, because, you see, my heroes aren't people like Olivier, Gielgud or Richardson, but comics. I've got a soft spot for the more vulgar end of the theatrical world, and my greatest hero is the [late] British comedian Tommy Cooper." [whom he decided to impersonate when it came time to deliver his line in a Shakespearean production.] "It got me a big laugh, but my contract wasn't renewed." – Molina quoted in Newsday, Jan. 21, 1996

"When I was a kid, my heroes were all Americans, and even then I wanted to live there. But it was my secret, because saying that out loud to others wouldn't have been the coolest thing to do. Then, when I got to drama school, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the only one that would take me. We were expected to do Shakespeare and the classics. But all I ever wanted was to be in Westerns. So, naturally, I wanted to live here, but I had to wait till I was in my 40s to do so. My wife felt the same way, too, fortunately. She'd had a hugely successful TV series in England, but when that ended, she decided to try writing, and that's something she can do anywhere. She's had three novels published so far, but none here as yet." – Molina quoted in the Daily News, March 2, 1998

"I'm very proud of the fact that I can play all these different nationalities. I've done it with varying degrees of success, but at least with the best of intentions," he says. Still, he acknowledges, "I think at some point you run the danger of becoming every one's favorite foreigner." – Molina to CNN.com, March 3, 2004

"Playing villains is always fun, there's no two ways about it. There's always a lot of freedom and room to be inventive. I could go to my grave playing bad guys. I love it." – Molina to CNN.com, June 28, 2004